Vending-machine.



No. 814,712. PATENTED MAR. 13, 1906.

W. E. LEIGHTON & F. A. HOLMES- VENDING MACHINE.

APPL IGATION FILED 1030.8, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

@TNEEEEE; m mu 5 V fhzzam 7%,; W @nfjfl No. 814,712. PATENTED MAR. 13,1906. WQE. LEIGHTON & P. A. HOLMES. VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED D30. 8, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTI] J T .J i2

L ig WITNESSES! wwvzfh zp UNITED STATES Parnnr orrron WILLIAM E.LEIGHTON, OF PEMBROKE, AND FRED A. HOLMES, OF EASIPORT, MAINE.

VENDING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 13, 1906.

Application filed December 8. 1904. Serial No. 235,935.

To all whmn it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM E. LEIGH- TON, a resident of Pembroke, andFRED A. HoLMEs, a resident of Eastport, in the county of WVashington andState of Maine, citizens of the United States, have invented new anduseful Improvements in Vending-Machines, of which the following is aspecification.

Our invention relates to improvements in vending-machines, and moreparticularly to such as operate by coin-controlled mechanism. It isespecially designed to vend articles contained in venvelops or similarpackages which when in the envelops form more or less irregular-shapedpackages.

In the drawings herewith accompanying and making a part of thisapplication, Figure 1 is a sectional perspective view of our improvedmachine arranged for two carriers, one only being shown, the back andfront doors being shown open. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of thesame, taken just above the door-locking lever. Fig. Sis a detailvertical sectional view, enlarged, of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a detailplan view of the guide-partitions attached to the door and means foropening the hinged member thereof.

The same letters of reference refer to like parts.

In said drawings, A represents a suitable casing having two doors B inthe front thereof and C in the back. Mounted on sprocketwheels D,suitably journaled within the casing, are one or more chain or linkcarriers E, having holes F, one in each link, into which take the cogs Gon the sprockets. Each link is provided with a hook H for suspending apackage I or a weight J, said weight, in combination with the packages,tending always to cause the carrier to rotate. Rotation is normallyprevented by an escapement K, which takes into the space between thecogs on the sprocket. The escapement is controlled by means of apivot-leverL contiguous to a coinchute M. Lever L for convenience ispivotally secured to a bracket N, attached to an upright O, and isprovided With a counterbalance-weight P. Access to the coin-chute for acoin is through a slot Q in'the front casing, and the usual receptaclesR are provided at the foot of the chute for the coin. The chute may alsohave an opening S in the side adapted to sidetrack coins of otherdenominations, and a separate receptacle T is provided therefor.

The slot is adapted to be closed when the last package of the carrierhas been delivered in any convenient manner, as by a slide U, (shown indotted. lines in Fig. 1,) pivotally secured to the inside of the casingadjacent the slot and operable by means of a weight J, mounted on thecarrier, striking the end of a lever V, pivotally secured to the frame,which through a link W, pivotally connected at one end to the lever Vand at the other end to the pivoted slide U, causes said slide to rotateon its pivot and to pass over and close the coinreceiving slot. Thecarrier passes inside of an open frame X, arranged below thesprocketwheel and preferably somewhat within a perpendicular coincidentwith the portion of the carrier on which the packages are mounted, sothat as each package in its turn as the carrier rotates reaches a pointbelow the center of the sprocket and approaches the frame it passesoutside of the frame. The hooks upon which the packages are suspendedbeing curved, the packages are discharged successively from the carrieras the carrier revolves by contact with frame X and fall upon theinclined way Y and are thence delivered through an opening Z in thecasing. The weight should be placed upon the hook immediately above thelast package, so that when all the packages on the carrier are deliveredthe weight will engage the end of lever V, close the coin-slot, and thusprevent any one from putting a coin in the slot after the carrier isempty.

When two or more carriers are employed, it is found advantageous afterthe carriers have been loaded to provide means for preventing them frompossible entanglement with each other. We have found it convenient forthis purpose to attach a double partition to the back door, partition 1,nearest the hinge on the door, being rigid and partition 2, nearest theedge of the door, beinghinged, so as to be turned toward 1 to enable itto more readily enter the space between the packages as the door closes.As the door closes the hinged partition engages a wedge-shapedprojection 3, attached to the top of the casing, and opens the hingedpartition, as shown in Fig. 4. The advantages of having these partitionson the door is that the carriers are better exposed and more easilyloaded than if the partition were stationary.

In Figs. 2 and 3 we have shown a convenwith a single key.

'ient means of automatically locking the front door by the closing ofthe back door. A locking-bar 4 is pivotally attached to the side of thecasing. Said bar has on its front end a latch 5, adapted to take into arecessed keeper 6, secured to the front door. The bar iscounterbalanced, if necessary, by a weight 7, secured to the oppositeend. The extre1nity is beveled, as seen at 8, and the front door isprovided with a beveled lug 9, which when the door is closed raises theback end of the lever and causes the front end to engage its keeper,thus locking the front door when the back door is closed.

The operation of our improved vendingmachine has been described inconnection with the description of its mechanism.

The advantages of our improved vendingmachine are that it enables thevending of irregular-shaped packages, it automatically closes thecoin-receiving slot when the last package has been delivered, itprovides vertical partitions for separating the packages which come intoplace after the packages are placed upon the carrier and when the dooris closed, and it has means of locking both doors Having thus describedour invention and its use, What we claim. as our invention, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a vending-machine, a suitable casing, an endless link carriermounted therein, each link being provided with means for supporting apackage in pendent position, mechanism for imparting a step-by-steprotation to said link carrier and means for automatically dischargingthe packages from said carrier. I l

2. I11 a vending-machine, a suitable casing, sprocket-wheels mountedtherein, an endless link carrier mounted on said wheels, each linkprovided with an opening into which the cogs on the sprocket take, meansfor imparting a step-by-step rotation to said carrier, each link beingprovided with a package-suspending d evlce and means for dischargingpackages from said carrierconsisting of an open frame mounted beneaththe sprocket and positioned so as to come between the carrier as itpasses around the sprocket and the free extremity of the package.

3. In a vending-machine, a suitable casing, a link carrier, each linkbeing provided with a curved package-suspending device, apparatus forimparting a step-by-step rotation to said carrier and means forautomatically discharging the packages from said curvedpackage-suspending device.

4. In a vending-machine, a suitable casing, sprocket-wheels mountedtherein, endless link carriers mounted up on said sprocket wheels,apparatus adapted to impart a stepby-step rotation to saidsprocket-Wheels and carriers, said carriers being provided withpackage-suspending devices, in combination with a door having partitionsadapted when the door is closed to separate the packages upon adjacentcarriers from each other.

5. In a vending-machine, a suitable casing, sprocket-wheels mountedtherein, endless link carriers mounted upon said sprocketwheels,apparatus adapted to impart a stepby-ste'p rotation to saidsprocket-wheels and carriers, said carriers being provided withpackage-suspending devices, in combination with a door having partitionsadapted when the door is closed to separate the packages upon adjacentcarriers from each other, one of said partitions being hinged, and awedgeshaped projection on the casing to open said hinged partition asthe door closes.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification, inpresence of two subscribing witnesses, this 3d day of December, 1904.

WILLIAM E. LEIGHTON. FRED A. HOLMES.

Witnesses:

I. HOBART ALLAN, MARY E. MOFAUL.

